Rechtsextremismus

Why a right-wing populist party emerged in France but not in Germany: cleavages and actors in the formation of a new cultural divide

“…On various occasions, an extreme right party has succeeded in passing the 5% threshold for representation in regional legislatures. In almost all cases, however, the extreme right has been unable to consolidate its success (see Stöss, 2005: 124–133). If the votes for these parties were guided by strategic considerations, the parties’ potential voters should not have deserted them once represented in Parliament, having received a signal that their votes were unlikely to be wasted.…”

“…Despite Schönhuber's efforts, he failed to develop an elaborate ‘cultural differentialist’ discourse (Backes and Mudde, 2000: 459; Mudde, 2000: 171–172). Owing to the mainstream right's capacity to co-opt the extreme right's culturalist discourse by politicizing the immigration issue and by orchestrating Germany's reunification, all but the most extreme part of the traditionalist-communitarian terrain was occupied (Stöss, 2005: 38–40, 86; Art, 2006: 158, 163). In addition, because the Social Democrats denounced the extreme right's anti-democratic character, but refrained from taking a strong counter-position, the radicalization of mainstream right voters was averted.…”

“…The odds for absorbing the traditionalist political potential improved, however, with the rise of two new issues on the political agenda. For one thing, the Union orchestrated the reunification of the country under Helmut Kohl's leadership and thereby deprived the extreme right of one of its central themes of the post-war decades (Stöss, 2005: 38–40, 86). For another, the CSU and parts of the CDU had already taken up the immigration issue in the early 1980s.…”